Looking for low power LGA775 homeserver motherboard
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:31 pm
Can anyone recommend a good LGA 775 motherboard for low-power Windows Home Server duty?
I have an existing C2D E6400 and 2 x 2GB DDR2 that I'd like to reuse if possible, though I'm not averse to considering an AMD solution if it makes sense. Stable WHS drivers, excellent GigE performance, and plenty of hot-swappable AHCI SATA ports (6+) are a must. Ideally I'd like at least 1 PCI slot and 2-3 PCIe 1x slots. The fewer power consuming (and budget busting) frills the better. I don't need dual ethernet, 1394, n-phase power, high-end audio, high end IGP, crossfire, sli, etc. etc.
I'd be upgrading from a Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 (P965/ICH8 non-R) which may be developing a flaky SATA port (not sure yet, I'm still testing it). This board is pretty decent, though the lack of AHCI is kind of a hindrance since I'm planning to install a 5-in-3 hotswap backplane.
I don't necessarily need onboard video, as I have an ATI Rage XL PCI card on order. That chip is supposed to idle around 1W and, as I understand it, was a popular no-frills chip for server motherboards, and so is well supported on WHS and Server 2003. So, integrated graphics are fine if they don't cost too much power, otherwise I'd rather stick with the PCI card (this includes NBs that might have a disabled GPU core in them, which I've heard may include the P965 and P45).
I have an existing C2D E6400 and 2 x 2GB DDR2 that I'd like to reuse if possible, though I'm not averse to considering an AMD solution if it makes sense. Stable WHS drivers, excellent GigE performance, and plenty of hot-swappable AHCI SATA ports (6+) are a must. Ideally I'd like at least 1 PCI slot and 2-3 PCIe 1x slots. The fewer power consuming (and budget busting) frills the better. I don't need dual ethernet, 1394, n-phase power, high-end audio, high end IGP, crossfire, sli, etc. etc.
I'd be upgrading from a Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 (P965/ICH8 non-R) which may be developing a flaky SATA port (not sure yet, I'm still testing it). This board is pretty decent, though the lack of AHCI is kind of a hindrance since I'm planning to install a 5-in-3 hotswap backplane.
I don't necessarily need onboard video, as I have an ATI Rage XL PCI card on order. That chip is supposed to idle around 1W and, as I understand it, was a popular no-frills chip for server motherboards, and so is well supported on WHS and Server 2003. So, integrated graphics are fine if they don't cost too much power, otherwise I'd rather stick with the PCI card (this includes NBs that might have a disabled GPU core in them, which I've heard may include the P965 and P45).